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Road To Nowhere
Betrayal by a friend and handed over to your greatest enemy, it seems you've finally run out of luck. Cast * Sara Smith * Professor Van Ark Plot A New Test Subject A treadmill beeps into action and you are forced to run as Van Ark revels in the success of his plan; you’re his new lab rat. Phase One Van Ark voices his hesitance to trust Runner 8 as you continue to run. He injects you with the phase one solution. A Little Curiosity Runner 8 presses Van Ark for more information about his work on tone controlled zombies - he admits that he was not the one who discovered it. Better Off Without Them Van Ark is impressed by your tolerance; either the formula has been refined, or you just got very lucky. Potassium Cyanide Van Ark reveals that he has another agent in Abel - the one who changed over Maxine's spray canisters - preparing to poison the township's water supply. Pearly Gates There are two outcomes to this experiment; your system will either stabilise in the next half hour, or you will die. Transcript beeps SARA SMITH: Five, I - opens PROFESSOR VAN ARK: They’re not even bothering to encrypt their transmissions anymore. closes You know, quite honestly, I’m a little disappointed that they crumbled so easily. The Major dead, the traitor fled, radio operators fretting over vanished Runner Five, and that woman Janine with a broken arm. It hasn’t taken much for them to fall into complete disarray. SARA SMITH: We knew that killing the Major would break them. She was – she kept that place together. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: It’s all very satisfying, Sara. I do like an economical plan. Just like a zombie – the head removed, the whole thing dies. SARA SMITH: Yes, that’s how it works. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: And a new test subject for me, one whose fitness I’ve had cause to admire in the past. Runner Five. I did specially want Sara to bring you in. beeps Ready to go, then? Just hop up on the treadmill. Don’t let the gun Sara’s holding put you off. We have a few tests to perform. So, well. If you do want to live, run. runs PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Oh yes, that’s terribly good. How do you keep it up? SARA SMITH: We train. Very hard. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: No one else on this base would take that tone with me, Sara. SARA SMITH: That’s my tone. I take it with everyone. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: For a very long time, I didn’t know if I could trust you. You’re hostile, secretive. SARA SMITH: That’s what makes me good at what I do. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: When you first came to me – when was it? Oh, yes – laughs Just after I flattened Abel. When you first came to me offering information, I thought you had to be a spy. SARA SMITH: I could have been. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: And I hope you won’t mind my saying it’s only with this most recent development – only knowing what you’ve done now – that makes me fully sure. SARA SMITH: You’re not a fool. You don’t trust easily. I respect that. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: It’s been months of searching, and now it’s almost over. Do you know, I think I had to destroy twenty settlements before I was certain that Abel had what I was looking for? SARA SMITH: I wondered where the Skoobs - PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Oh, their hydroponics looked so hopeful, but totally useless. I knew that the government had a secret underground lab somewhere in this area, one with all the equipment I needed to stabilize the treatments I’d been working on, make them permanent. No need for the booster shots. SARA SMITH: The longevity treatment? PROFESSOR VAN ARK: The only research that signifies, yes. Do you know it was you, Five? Your arrival on that helicopter from Mullins Base that gave me the clue that the lab I was looking for was probably under Abel. What a helpful little thing you’ve been! Unwittingly. Good, your heart rate is at the correct level. You’ll need to keep it there for, oh, quite a while. I have a new set of treatments I’d like to test on you. Something a little different from the norm. You’ll find out what it does… eventually, I expect. I’ll just inject you with the phase one solution. This might hurt a little. Well, it might feel like your veins have turned to fire. But if you value your fingers and toes, don’t slow down. runs PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Yes, well done. You’ve tolerated the first phase quite well. I can’t count the number of people I’ve lost at this stage, especially before we refined the treatment. SARA SMITH: And this is to do what, exactly? PROFESSOR VAN ARK: I don’t think you’d understand it, even if I tried to explain. SARA SMITH: Fair enough. I’m of more use to you, though, if I do understand all the things you do. The tone control of the zombies, for example. Those notes that make them move or stop moving. Why are some zombies controlled that way and others not? PROFESSOR VAN ARK: It’s not important. SARA SMITH: I’m interested in your work. I’ve never seen anything like it! I wouldn’t have thought it was possible – no scientist I’ve spoken to has any idea how you’ve done it! How did you infect the zombies with it? PROFESSOR VAN ARK: It wasn’t me. I still don’t know why some are affected and others aren’t. We can reproduce those fast controllable zombies by infecting new people with their blood, but I don’t know why it works. SARA SMITH: So you didn’t – the control boxes we found, you didn’t invent them? PROFESSOR VAN ARK: We found one in a lab shortly after the apocalypse. Didn’t take much to figure it out. That wittering Archie almost had one cracked in half an hour. SARA SMITH: And the experiments on the Aurora? PROFESSOR VAN ARK: I didn’t want you meddling in that then, and I’m not prepared to answer questions about it now. The captain was handsomely recompensed for his trouble, and for providing a good story to insinuate you back into Abel. And I hope never to see or hear from him again. SARA SMITH: Right. Yes, I’m – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Think nothing of it. A little curiosity is excellent. Although we musn’t forget what curiosity killed, must we? SARA SMITH: laughs Almost everyone in the world? VAN ARK: laughs Quite possibly. Quite possibly. Pick up the pace there, Five. Soon be time for another dose. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Well, well. You are tolerating the regime very well, Five. Unusually well. Either this means I’ve refined the formula so that it’s better tolerated by the average system, or - SARA SMITH: Or Runner Five just got very lucky. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: - or that, yes. SARA SMITH: I’m overdue for my treatment, you know. Could I just uh, go and see Paula in the lab down the hall? PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Oh, there’s plenty of time for that. I wouldn’t want you to miss seeing what happens to Five here when we apply the tertiary stage. After all, I understand the two of you were close. SARA SMITH: Not really. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: You see, if this works – as I think it will – I’ll soon be able to use the distribution system Abel have developed to spray the countryside with my priming agent. Rather neat, that spraying idea. SARA SMITH: Priming agent? PROFESSOR VAN ARK: For immortality for the human race. Those I choose to treat with my booster shots will become effectively immortal. Of course, it is likely to kill quite a lot of people. But after all, it’ll the end of death completely for some. SARA SMITH: That’s fair. You can’t make an omelette - PROFESSOR VAN ARK: No, I really can’t. Never have been able to work it out. Let’s hope someone who can cook survives, eh? laughs Oh, and of course, it’ll kill most of the zombies, too. They’re just a bit unsightly, really. Like many human beings. Better off without the lot of them. Five stumbles PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Careful there, Five. I did warn you that dizziness was one of the side effects of the treatment. Or did I? No, my mistake. I didn’t warn you of anything. But we don’t need to, because you’re cuffed to the treadmill, and you have no idea what I’ve injected into you, so just keep running. Try not to fall over. SARA SMITH: Runner Five’s always been a clumsy one. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: And so quiet. You know, for a while there, I thought of trying to turn you, Five. But nothing ever seems to make an impact! treadmill Apart from a hypodermic syringe. And we’ll see what decisions you make when I’m finished with you. SARA SMITH: He can be very persuasive. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: And people can surprise you. You, for example, Sara. Shooting the Major. Even though we’d agreed that you’d try to assassinate her, I never thought you’d go through with it. It’s more like something my other agent would have done. SARA SMITH: I did wonder if you had someone else. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: I like to keep my options open. Yes, I have another inside agent at Abel. SARA SMITH: That’s who changed over the doc’s canisters before our last spray run. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Clever girl! And my other agent is preparing to poison the water supply at Abel. SARA SMITH: Poison the - PROFESSOR VAN ARK: After sending armies of zombies, I’ve decided that the old ways are the best. Potassium cyanide in the well. And in a couple of days’ time, we can just walk into Abel and take what we need. SARA SMITH: No more trouble from any of them. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Quite. And you might live to see that glorious day, Runner Five, if you’re lucky. Time for a booster shot. Do keep running. runs PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Ah, yes. Your vital signs are stabilizing. Looks like we haven’t killed you after all, Five! For the moment. SARA SMITH: I’m looking forward to invading Abel. PROFESSOR VAN ARK: Hardly an invasion, dear Sara. Walking in over a pile of dead bodies. SARA SMITH: I sort of hope some of them survive, you know. I mean, we could do it with all of them dead. Janine’s given me the code for the armory, and I know all their booby traps and defenses, but I - PROFESSOR VAN ARK: You want to see their faces. SARA SMITH: None of them ever trusted me. Even before any of this, they all thought I was out to betray them. Well, if you think it long enough, you make it come true. I’ve been waiting a long time to get my own back on that Curly Wurly-loving marmite-obsessed idiot Sam Yao! PROFESSOR VAN ARK: And perhaps you will. Or you might just get your own back on his corpse. And speaking of corpses, we just have to wait now, Runner Five, to see what happens. One of two things – either your system will stabilize in the next half hour, or - SARA SMITH: - or you’ll be the one setting out the welcome party for Sam by the pearly gates!Category:Mission Category:Season Two